Generate 15+ relevant hashtags for your videos. Find trending and evergreen hashtags to boost discoverability and reach the right audience.
Follow these guidelines to avoid penalties and maximize hashtag effectiveness.
YouTube allows up to 15 hashtags per video. Using more than 15 will cause ALL hashtags to be ignored by YouTube's system.
The first 3 hashtags in your description appear as clickable links above your video title. Choose your most important ones first.
You can add hashtags to either your title or description. Description placement is recommended - title hashtags use precious title space.
Using irrelevant or misleading hashtags violates YouTube's policies. Your hashtags must relate to your video content.
Viewers can click hashtags to find related content. This can bring new viewers but also send viewers away. Balance is key.
#YouTubeTips and #youtubetips are treated the same. Use capitalization for readability (CamelCase) but it won't affect search.
Use a mix of both for optimal results.
#iPhone15Pro #WorldCup2024 #TaylorSwiftErasTour #ChatGPT #GTA6Trailer
#TechReview #CookingTips #DIY #Photography #PersonalFinance #FitnessMotivation
Maximize your hashtag effectiveness with these proven strategies.
Understanding the mechanics behind hashtag search.
You can see how much traffic comes from hashtags in YouTube Studio. Go to Analytics > Reach > Traffic source: Browse features. Look for "Hashtag pages" to see if your hashtag strategy is driving views. If you're getting minimal hashtag traffic, experiment with different combinations or focus your efforts on other SEO elements.
Tailored approaches for different content types.
Type your video topic or title. Select your niche, target audience, and content type for more relevant results.
Review trending and evergreen hashtag suggestions. Click to select the ones you want to use.
Copy your selected hashtags with one click. Paste them into your YouTube video description.
The optimal number is 3-5 hashtags per video. While YouTube allows up to 15, using more than 15 will cause ALL hashtags to be ignored. Quality over quantity is key - choose highly relevant hashtags rather than stuffing as many as possible. The first 3 hashtags appear above your title, so make those count.
You can add hashtags in either your video description (recommended) or your title. Description placement is preferred because it doesn't use valuable title character space. Put hashtags at the end of your description. The first 3 hashtags will automatically appear as clickable links above your video title, regardless of where they are in the description.
Hashtags can help, but they're not a magic solution. They provide marginal SEO benefit compared to titles, descriptions, and thumbnails. Hashtags work best for: 1) Trending topics where people actively search hashtags. 2) Niche communities that follow specific tags. 3) Brand building with a unique channel hashtag. Check your analytics to see if hashtag pages are driving traffic to your videos.
No spaces allowed - hashtags break at spaces. Use CamelCase for multi-word hashtags (#HowToCook, not #how to cook). Most special characters break hashtags too. Stick to letters and numbers. Underscores work but aren't recommended for readability. Emojis are not supported in hashtags.
If you include more than 15 hashtags, YouTube will ignore ALL of your hashtags - none will be displayed or indexed. This is a hard rule. Count your hashtags carefully. Some creators accidentally exceed this limit when combining hashtags in their description with their default description template.
Use a mix of both! Trending hashtags can drive short-term traffic spikes during peak interest. Evergreen hashtags provide steady, long-term discoverability. A good formula: 2 trending hashtags + 3 evergreen hashtags. For timeless content like tutorials, lean more toward evergreen tags.
Using misleading, spammy, or inappropriate hashtags can lead to your video being removed or your channel receiving a strike. YouTube specifically prohibits: hashtags that don't relate to your content, sexually explicit tags, harassment-related tags, and tags that promote dangerous activities. Stick to relevant, honest hashtags.
Several methods work: 1) Check YouTube's trending page and see what hashtags popular videos use. 2) Search your topic and look at top-performing videos' hashtags. 3) Use Google Trends to find rising search terms. 4) Check Twitter/X trending topics for cross-platform trends. 5) Use our hashtag generator tool which includes trending suggestions.
Hashtags work similarly for Shorts, but #Shorts was previously important (less so now as YouTube auto-detects Shorts format). For Shorts, trending hashtags are particularly valuable since the format is trend-driven. Use platform-agnostic trending tags (#Viral, #Trending) plus your niche tags. Keep Shorts descriptions shorter overall.
Absolutely! Creating a unique channel hashtag (like #YourChannelName) helps build brand identity and lets viewers find all your content easily. Include it in every video. Some creators also create series-specific hashtags for recurring content. Check that your chosen hashtag isn't already widely used.
Hashtags have a minor impact on SEO compared to titles, descriptions, and engagement metrics. They help YouTube categorize your content and can drive traffic from hashtag search pages. However, don't rely on hashtags alone for SEO. Focus on optimizing your title, description, and thumbnail first, then use hashtags as a supplementary discovery tool.
Keep 1-2 consistent brand/channel hashtags, but vary the rest based on each video's specific topic. Using identical hashtags on every video looks spammy and misses opportunities to reach different audiences. Create hashtag templates for different content categories on your channel, then customize for each video.
Use our complete suite of YouTube SEO tools.